Paulette's Southern Sweet Tea

Every southern woman knows how to make the perfect sweet tea. As a matter of fact, there is no need to call it "sweet Tea" in the south, as that's just what we would call NORMAL tea. Not that stuff my Yankee friends drink (In Connecticut, visiting a friend last summer, I about died when I poured a glass of tea and found it to be FLAVORED)

Ingredients:

2 Luzianne Tea bags
8 cups of water
1 PINCH of Baking Soda
1 cup of sugar
Ice

1. Boil 2 cups of water

2. in a measuring cup, or glass cup, put 2 teabags and the pinch of baking soda

3. Pour the 2 cups of boiling water in with the teabags and baking soda and let "steep" (soak) for 15-20 minutes, depending on how dark you want your tea (I do 18 minutes)

4. In your tea pitcher, put 1 cup of sugar

5. Get excess water out of tea bags and pour steeped tea in pitcher with sugar and mix.

6. Add 1 cup of cold water to tea and mix thoroughly.

7. Add remaining 5 cups of water to tea pitcher along with ice, stiring. Place in fridge until ready to serve

Cheese Taquitos

Ingredients

• Butter
• shredded cheese
• tortilla shells

1. Put a light layer of butter on one side of the tortilla shell (some people prefer using a butter spray)

2. On un-buttered side, fill with cheeses. I made this fast for Thumbelina, so it's just sharp, but use as many types as you like. Sharp, Monterrey, Mexican.


3. Roll up, pulling sides in first, and then rolling.



4. Fry in pan on medium high heat until browned on each side

Grilled Chicken Fajitas, American Style

This is my mothers recipe. Despite her faults, she could make some awesome meals.

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breast
• 2Tbsp LIGHT Brown Sugar
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Lime juice
  
• Fiesta Lime seasoning
• Cumin (just a sprinkle)
  
• Tortilla shells
• 1 Onion
• 1 Green Pepper
• 2 squirts Lemon juice

Optional Ingredients for putting together Fajitas:

• Sour Cream
• Shredded Cheese
• Salsa
• guacamole
  
• (anything else you like! :) )
  

1. Marinate the chicken overnight in a lime juice and Worcestershire mix

2. Grill chicken

3. Slice grilled chicken into strips

4. Slice Onion and green pepper, seasoning with a Fiesta Lime seasoning


5. Start sauteing and sprinkle with a little bit of cumin


6. OPTIONAL STEP: While sauteing the vegetables, mix 1/3 cup of Worcestershire sauce, 2Tbsp of brown sugar, and two small squirts of lemon juice. This can be made to taste, so play around until you find what you like, or even leave out completely! Some people do not like this

7. Mix sliced chicken with sauteing veggies and (0ptional) add 2Tbsp of sauce mixture.


8. Line bowl with tinfoil, and scoop into tinfoil. Close tinfoil to retain heat


9. Heat each tortilla in pan, lightly browning. Place in Tortilla dish



10. Put together your fajitas!

Southern Fried Chicken

Ingredients:
6 cups Milk
1/2 cup Texas Pete hot sauce
12 Chicken Legs
3 cups SELF RISING Flour
fresh pepper
Paula Deen House Seasoning
3 egg Eggs
1/2 cup Lard

1. Mix milk and Texas Pete together and soak chicken over night in fridge


2. When you are ready to cook, remove chicken from mixture and place in bowl, setting to the side.

3. Heat lard to 350. lard (or oil if you prefer) should be deep enough to come up half way on the chicken.

4. Take 1 cups of the milk mixture and mix with 3 eggs in a separate bowl/dish for dipping

5. Mix flour with fresh cracked Pepper

6. Sprinkle House Seasoning on chicken ( I find it helpful to put some in a salt shaker and to use it this way)


7. Dip chicken in egg and milk mixture.

8. Dip in Flour mixture

9. Repeat steps 7 and 8

10. Place chicken in pan to fry, 10 minutes each side.


11. Drain chicken either on paper towels, or set on a cake rack to dry. (make sure to put paper towels under cake rack to catch drippings)

How to Make Ham Stock

Ingredients

• Ham Bone w/some meat attached
  
• 1 small onion
• 4 bay leaves
• 12 whole peppercorns
• Parsley flakes or sprigs
• Enough water to cover the ham bone (in my pot, this is one gallon)
  
• OPTIONAL ingredients: Carrots and celery
  

1. Put together your stock pot (or crock-pot. Whichever you are using) and add ALL ingredients



2. Bring stock to boil, slowly stirring

3. Reduce to simmer for 4 hours

4. Remove the bone, onion, peppercorn, and leaves

(this is all that should be left to cool)


5. Let cool until "skin" forms on top, then skim the fat off

(nasty, isn't it?)

6. Pour into freezer safe Tupperware and mark with todays date. Good for 6 months!



This recipe makes 11 cups. I use it when I make Ham and Potato soup, and it comes out so much better with ham stock.

Hobo Veggie Soup

There is a story as to how I came up with this "recipe", but first, let's just say that it apparently tastes so great, that my 7 year old begs for more.

All you need for this recipe are a couple cans of vegetable, 4-6 cups of water, and 2 chicken bouillon cubes.

1. Drain your veggie cans of all juice and place in pot

2. Cover veggies with water, about an inch over.

3. Drop in bouillon cubes and bring to a quick boil to dissolve.

4. Serve with crackers

See why it's called hobo? It's the perfect quick and hot meal that is full of veggies. And it only takes about 5-8 minutes for prep and "cook". Use what ever canned veggies you have on hand. Corn, green beans, carrots... You can even throw in some fresh celery for an added crunch!

Now, how did I come up with this meal? We had some special treats hidden from the kids for special occasions. I happened to notice that a couple were missing. I asked Matt if he ate them, and he said no. It didn't take much to get Alice to admit to it. So, I had to counter act all that sugar! How else to do this than by vegetables! She likes them, so it's not a punishment, but it needed to be a full meal for lunch. So, I came up with the brain child above, and she liked it so much she begged for another bowl.

The mommy in me was happy to say yes. :-)

A Southeners Snow Cream

We don't get snow that often here. At least not a good one. And our snow is no where near as good as the people up north. ( I can't imagine how awesome theirs would be!) But here is my recipe!

Ingredients:
1 cup of milk
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2tsp of Vanilla
1/2tsp of Cinnamon (optional)
8 cups of snow

1. Put out your container out to catch snow the snow


2. Mix together milk, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. I use a whisk, spoon is fine.


3. Add the snow, 1 cup at a time, mixing until blended.


At this point, you can eat the snow or like me, you can put it in the freezer to firm up for a bit and serve later (we do)

Fried Barbeque Pork Chops

One of my house mothers in foster care used to make this meal, and I loved it. (she also made this killer pizza. I wish I could remember how!) So, We can call this Ms. Tashika's recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of lard/cooking oil (I prefer lard)
• 2 cups of AP (all purpose) Flour
• 4tsp of barbecue seasoning spice
• Fresh cracked Pepper
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup of milk
• Small bottle of Barbecue sauce
• 4-6 pork chops

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Preheat skillet with lard/oil

3. Mix together the pepper, flour, and spice

4. Mix together the milk and eggs in to shallow dish for dipping

5. Dip the chops in the egg, then flour.



6. Repeat step 5. This gives it a stronger, crunchier, TASTIER crust


7. Fry til brown on both sides. (10 minutes each side is average)


8. Set aside to dry while pouring barbecue sauce into shallow dish and greasing baking pan


9. Dip chops into sauce and lay on greased pan.



10. Place in oven for 20 minutes to bake!

Tuesday Tips: quick substitutions for Italian Dishes

(yeah, I know it's not Tuesday. It's been a busy week)

Arborio Rice (1 cup) = 1 cup of short grain or brown

Balsamic Vinegar (1 Tbsp) = 1tbsp cider or red wine vinegar plus 1/2tsp sugar

1Tbsp fresh herbs = 1tsp dried herbs, crushed

1 Clove Garlic = 1/2tsp mince garlic or 1/8tsp garlic powder

1 cup Half and Half/Light Cream = 1tbsp melted butter plus 1 cup of whole milk

Now, for those new to fresh garlic, remember, you buy garlic in a "head", the clove is each part that you pull apart from the head.

clove:

How to make Thick Spaghetti Sauce

To make a delicious homemade sauce, you need about 6 hours. And a crock pot. I make mine and then freeze it for later use. Once you have your base and flavor, you can add pretty much anything to it.

Main Ingredients:

2 cans crushed tomatoes
2 cans tomato paste
1 whole head of garlic
1 onion
2Tbsp EVOO
1/4 cup of Italian seasonings mixture (Italian seasoning, Basil, and parsley)
1 crushed bay leave
4tsp Sugar
1/3 Cup of red wine

1. Pour crushed tomatoes and tomato paste into crockpot, turn crockpot on low. Tomato paste is THICK. Blend together with spoon and leave alone.

2. Chop onions up and saute in EVOO until halfway cooked. Then add minced garlic. Cook until garlic is browned. Add to sauce and stir

3. Pour in seaonings and crushed bay leaf.

4. Add 1/3 cup of red wine

4. Cook for 3 hours on low, stirring occasionally.

5. Add 4 tsp sugar and cook on low for 3 additional hours.


Now, this is your base, and it's awesome. From here, you can do whatever you want. You can cook up Italian sausage, bell peppers, mushrooms, cheeses.... And add them in during that last 3 hours to cook in as well. It's what ever you want.

This jars or freezes well. Currently, I do not have the jars I want, so I use freezer bags and lay flat in the freezer until I need to use them.